Juxtaposition of the Day

https://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2016/02/juxtaposition-of-the-day-2

Item one: two New York Times editorials — "Monopolizing Beer," October 7, 2014, and "How Mergers Damage the Economy," October 31, 2015, contending that the government should use antitrust law to block anticompetitive consolidation in the beer industry that would hurt consumers.

Item two: a Super Bowl preview article on the front of the Times sports section headlined, "For Beer, Color of Competition: Red and White," about how "wine sales have been steadily growing faster than beer sales, especially around Super Bowl time, a reflection of the changing preferences of younger fans and an increase in women who watch the country's biggest sporting event."

It looks like the Times reporters and editors who work on the sports section and cover Super Bowl parties have figured out what the editorial writers who cover antitrust law haven't figured out — that "beer" exists in a competitive landscape with other beverages, both alcoholic and nonalcoholic. It's almost enough to make one think that the beer "monopoly" isn't as scary as the Times editorial writers would have you believe, since it's actually losing ground to market competition, at least if one believes the Times news department. It's almost enough to make one wonder how much the editorial writers had to drink before they got down to crafting the antitrust editorials.